Serial Digital Interface (SDI) connections and SDI routers are often used in routing video signals. For relatively short connections less than a few hundred metres, SDI routers can be interconnected with coaxial cables and connectors, and routing can be controlled using a single control system and control interface. Such direct interconnections are generally referred to as SDI tie-lines.
Hybrid connections including connection segments of different types may be used for longer-range connections. For example, an SDI router could connect to another SDI router through an Ethernet network and Internet Protocol (IP) based connection. In this case, each SDI router could connect to the Ethernet network through an Ethernet ingress or egress component such as an encoder or a decoder, and the connection between the SDI routers is a hybrid connection including SDI connections between each router and its ingress or egress component and an IP/Ethernet network connection. According to conventional routing control and management techniques, a user would need to manually manage and coordinate the connection settings and routes for such a hybrid connection using multiple different control systems, including one for the SDI router control space to make the correct switches at each SDI router, another one for the network ingress and egress component configurations, and yet another one for managing and monitoring IP/Ethernet connectivity.